Saturday, February 27, 2010

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

We're starting all over from the beginning of KND from 4-5:00pm weekdays, not to mention a 12:00pm bonus half hour!

Which is perfect since I didn't do a recap of first season first time around!

So whaddaya say we recap it now?

First of all, I have to preface everything with this:

The first season of EVERY show, especially if it's your first, is a KA-KA-KA-BILLION things all at once. You don't know your characters.You don't know your crew.You don't know what an 11 minute story is.You don't know if the network is behind you.You don't know if you've got what it takes to run a show.You don't know ANYTHING!

But you charge ahead and do the best you can.

Regardless, I would come home every night, around 9:00pm, sit down on the sofa, and just burst into tears. EVERY night. It only took a couple minutes and then I would be done. Then I'd be laughing about something else. But I NEEDED that cry. It was a RELEASE from the non-stop onslaught of production. A day with 60 different people asking you eleventy billion questions and expecting you to have an answer. And even if you didn't know the right answer... you had to tell them SOMETHING. And that's one of the things I always stress to people who want their own show. Making a decision is one of the most important things you can do. It might not always be the RIGHT decision... but make one. And if it's wrong, FIX IT! Too many people are afraid of screwing up so they just waffle around and nothing gets done. But if you can make more good decisions than bad ones... then you just might be on your way to something great.

So what I'm trying to say is, season one was a crazy, fun, inspiring, horrible, awful, hilarious, wonderful, terror-filled, sooper triple rockin' in the free world time.

But you knew that already.

So what did this sooper brand new show bring to Cartoon Network in it's first season?!

And with this first season came a ton of characters that would become a staple of the series' six seasons:

THE DELIGHTFUL CHILDREN FROM DOWN THE LANE!GRAMMA STUFFUM!THE TOILETNATOR!TOMMY!PROFESSOR XXXL!MR. BOSS!THE COMMON COLD!STICKYBEARD!KNIGHTBRACE!BRADLEY!COUNT SPANKULOT!NUMBUH 274!LIZZIE!

Yeah... it was pretty huge.

So lemme tell you about some of the episodes:

Operation: I SCREAM - This was the first 11 minute episode to go into full scale production and the first to air... and it still holds up as an awesome episode! I told storyboard artist Matt Peters that I wanted to base the chase sequence on the one from Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro and he didn't disappoint. I still get the chills when Numbuh One dodges that ice cream cone missile in slow motion!

Operation: CANNON - The voice record for this show taught me that Daran Norris, the voice of Count Spankulot, can make me laugh at his every whim. Hence why I put Count Spankulot in so many episodes.

Operation: NO POWUH - The Toiletnator was supposed to be just a one-off joke... an example of the dumbest, most ridiculous idea for a sooper villain ever. If, this early in the series, you had told me he would be in almost a dozen episodes (or more?) by the time the series was over I would have laughed in your face. Yet I STILL get fan mail from kids telling me how funny they think he is. You can blame it on Dee Bradley Baker's brilliant voice acting.

Operation: PIRATE - Keep an eye out for the scene where Numbuh Five is taken captive by Stickybeard... as the KND watch the Sweet Revenge sail away from the Treehouse, Numbuh Three's legs were painted the wrong color so it looks like she's not wearing her leggings!

Operation: ARCTIC - So when I originally pitched this story to the gang, our producer Bruce Knapp brought up the fact that if Numbuh 30C's name stood for 30 Celsius then it didn't make much sense that he was an arctic operative since 30 Celsius is around 86 degrees Farenheit. I stared blankly at him for at least an hour before I realized my mistake... but then shrieked with joy at how perfect it was since Numbuh 30C was a traitor anyway. One of those perfect happy (dumb) accidents!

Operation: LIZZIE - After we had done the board for this episode, Cartoon Network thought Lizzie was a bit too TOO ugly. They figured Numbuh One would have a little more taste than the way we had designed her originally. So we had to redesign her to the way you all know and love (or hate) her.

Operation: OFFICE - The episode that started the Rainbow Monkey madness! Originally, they were supposed to be Rainbow Puppies, but CN legal found that that name was already taken. Same for Rainbow Kitties. And, like, ten other Rainbow (insert cute animal here). But can you believe... can you BELIEVE, that no one had copyrighted Rainbow MONKEYS?!?

Also... did you know that Ed Asner originally recorded for the part of Mr. Boss?

Operation: FLY - This was the first of the so-called 'ART' episodes. Mr. Willems and I loved the idea of doing one show a season that was something totally different from your standard narrative episode. So for the first one we decided to do an episode with NO dialogue. We'd just use music and mime to define what the characters are thinking. And it worked BEAUTIFULLY thanks to the storyboarding of Guy Moore and the music of Steve Rucker! Big BIG ups to Cartoon Network for letting us go for it, because most network folk would never let you do something like this... especially first season! Later 'art shows' included REPORT, ARCHIVE, FOODFITE, LOVE, and SCIENCE.

Operation: CHAD - Just like the Toiletnator, we never expected Numbuh 274 to become such a huge part of the show. But as we wrote episodes involving the Global KND, we needed someone to run the show and Chad ended up being the man. Did we know that he'd be the best KND operative ever, and then a traitor, and then NOT a traitor? Nope. It just happened organically.

Operation: CAMP - And while we're on that note... I never would have thought Chester and Bradley would end up in so many episodes!

Operation: LICE - Numbuh Three going Rambo suicide-style is hands down one of my favorite moments of season one.

Operation: TOMMY - If you ever have your own show, and do an episode that involves a lot of snot... not SOME snot... I mean, kids practically drowning in boogers... then be prepared to receive a lot of negative reactions, hate mail and bad fan reviews. Not EVERYONE hates this episode, but those that DO go sooper triple mongo crazy in the banana patch over it. And I'm not sure why.

There are still a couple more episodes left out of season one. I'm not sure if they'll show them next week... but I'll definitely dredge up some tidbits about them next!

In the meantime, enjoy this week's episodes. And after you watch 'em, make sure to shout out:

Wow, it sounds like you put in a lot of time and hard work into Season 1! It was worth it, though. How could anyone not like Operation: T.O.M.M.Y.? That one is one of my favorites. I love reading about how things were done with KND. I can't wait to read more.

Just wondering, what happened to some of the other one-shot villains like the Proper Patrol and the Parent Teacher Organization in some of the early episodes? Did you ever have plans to bring them back that fell through, or did you just feel they were one-off jokes too?